I’m addicted to… coffee. We lived in Japan for ten months, and the speciality coffee scene there is incredible. It made me realise how basic Italian coffee culture is. Italian coffee is cheap and good, but there’s so much more out there than just espresso and cappuccino. We don’t really acknowledge that in Italy. Japan opened up a whole new world for me. Apart from that, I’m usually fairly in control of myself.
What I love about my partner. [Laughs] I need to be careful; she’ll read this. We grew up in the same town. Cecilia is creative and good at a lot of things, like languages. She speaks fluent Japanese – she has a master’s in Japanese studies – and English and French, some German, and her Dutch is already better than mine – although to be fair, that isn’t saying much. She reads a lot, so we can talk about lots of things. And she has a great sense of humour, which is very important to me.
As a child, I was… cheerful, stubborn and funny, at least I like to think so. And I was prone to mood swings. I still am. When I’m happy, I’m really happy; when I’m sad, I’m really sad.
"Covid was dreadful in so many ways, but having the time to read Tolstoy's War and Peace was wonderful – so wonderful that we named our son after him"
Everyone should read this book. I used to say One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. I still love it, but now I’d choose War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. We read it together during one of the Covid lockdowns. It’s a thick book, but because it’s so long, you really develop a connection with the characters. You feel what they feel; you live alongside them. Covid was dreadful in so many ways, but having the time to read this book was wonderful – so wonderful that we named our son after Tolstoy.
If you had a time machine, where would you go? I’d time-travel to the fifties, sixties and seventies for the music scene, the rise of rock and roll. I like a lot of different kinds of music, but it would be great to see classic rock and roll live. I say that partly because I don’t have the time to go to concerts. There’s always so much I want to do, but only so many hours in a day. I once nearly bought a home coffee roaster; I’d already done my research, and I was on internet forums about it. But then I realised I had to stop – I didn’t have the time or the space. I came to my senses just in time.
"That something might happen to Cecilia or Lev – it’s too uncomfortable to even think about"
My partner doesn’t like that I… am very good at pretending to listen when I’m not actually listening. My mind wanders elsewhere – to Fantasy League, for example, an online game I play with Italian friends, where you build a fictitious team out of real football players. [Laughs] Or to the brilliant ideas for papers I’ll never write because I haven’t got the time.
This makes me see red. Rental scams. We’ve moved a lot – we’ve lived in England and Japan – and wherever you go, there are landlords and letting agents trying exploit the desperation of people looking for a place to live. Especially here in the Netherlands, with the housing crisis. Something needs to be done about it.
I regret… not getting a degree in agricultural studies. I grew up in a rural town, next door to my grandparents, who were farmers. We had a deep connection with the land and working it. I considered it, but I ended up doing a master’s in marketing psychology instead. I wanted to go into advertising, do something creative, but the programme wasn’t creative at all. I was relieved when I could switch to sociology for my PhD. I now research food inequality and food poverty. My long-term dream for the future is to run a small agribusiness, a lovely bed and breakfast with an edible forest garden where people can also do research. And an open-air cinema in summer. Maybe in twenty years…
This is what people don’t understand about poverty. Everyone knows that food banks exist, but far fewer people realise how entrenched they’ve become in society. How, over the past decades, thousands – if not millions – of people in various countries have become structurally dependent on them. As poverty is often hidden, some people struggle to understand what it means to be poor. But that understanding can help you judge political claims about poverty, some of which are nonsense. Poor people are blamed for their poverty, as if it’s their own fault. But research has shown that’s not how it works. There’s so much evidence that poverty affects cognitive judgement and leads to poor decision-making. Recognising that could change debates and result in better policies.
"Dutch cuisine came as a shock, but I knew what I was signing up for when I moved to Maastricht. Years ago, I studied in Tilburg for a while"
When I finally have a moment to myself… I read or play games on my PlayStation 5. And I love to cook. Did Dutch cuisine come as a culture shock? Yes, but I knew what I was signing up for when I moved to Maastricht. Years ago, I studied in Tilburg for a while.
This food product should be taken off the shelves. The products that most appeal to children – sweets so brightly coloured they can’t stop begging their parents for them, chocolate bars by the till. Those are cheap marketing tricks; if your business depends on that, it’s a terrible business. I know it works, but you’d wish companies would make better choices. It might reduce your profit margin, but profit for profit’s sake doesn’t benefit anyone – not even the companies themselves.
My greatest fear. [Long pause] I think that’s too personal to talk about, actually. The question cuts deeper than it seems. Is it about the people I love? Yes, of course, that’s at the top of the list. That something might happen to Cecilia or Lev – it’s too uncomfortable to even think about.